Stephen King, one of the most prolific writers in history, is also best known for his tales of horror, the supernatural, and the viscerally disturbing. Considering the quality of his written work, it’s no wonder, then, that many have made the jump to the big and small screens. Indeed, King’s latest novel Fairy Tale only just hit the shelves earlier this Fall, but is already being optioned for a movie adaptation from director Paul Greengrass.

Of course, King spends a significant amount of time writing horror, it should be no surprise that the master novelist also enjoys watching a good horror movie. From Frank Darabront’s The Mist (incidentally adapted from King’s own novella) to Robert Eggers’ The Witch, here’s a list of ten of Stephen King’s favorite movies (in no particular order).

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The Mist

     Darkwoods Productions

The Mist, released in 2007 and directed by Frank Darabront, is a particularly appropriate film to include on a list of Stephen King’s favorite horror movies. That’s because the film was adapted from King’s 1980 novella by the same name. Set in a small town in Maine, like many of King’s stories, The Mist begins with the townspeople recovering from the damage from a storm that wreaked havoc on their town. David Drayton (Thomas Jane) and his son, Billy (Nathan Gamble), go into town to the grocery store to gather supplies for the house. While inside the grocery store, a thick fog begins to envelope the town, trapping the town’s grocers inside. They soon realize that something is terribly wrong when a man runs into the door of the grocery store, covered in blood, and claiming to have seen something unnatural in the mist. Referring to the movie King said, “The ending will tear your heart out…but so will life in the end” (via Best Life).

The Strangers

     Universal Pictures

The Strangers isn’t a straightforward blood, guts, and gore-type of horror movie. It’s also not exclusively a psychological horror movie. The plot is so realistic in the sense that you can actually see it happening to you or to someone you know. It’s believable in the most terrifying way. Maybe King says it best himself: “It starts slowly and builds from unease to terror to horror,” he said. “Why is this happening? Just because it is. Like cancer, stroke, or someone going the wrong way on the turnpike at 110 miles an hour” (via Best Life). Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play Kristen and James, a couple who are on the outs after a failed marriage proposal. The couple drive back to their home in unsettling silence, not knowing the terror they will soon face. After getting settled in for the night, a know at the door from a mysterious woman changes everything. The Strangers was written and directed by Bryan Bertino.

The Blair Witch Project

     Haxan Films

This found footage, fictional documentary, written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez is surely responsible for many nightmares and phobias of the woods. “One thing about Blair Witch: the damn thing looks real. Another thing about Blair Witch: the damn thing feels real,” said King (via Bloody Disgusting). The Blair Witch Project is the story of three film students who set out to make a documentary about a mysterious, supernatural entity called the Blair Witch. The team travels around, speaking to locals who have heard of the entity or seen it for themselves. They ultimately decide to venture into the woods, where the witch is said to reside, and get lost. As they struggle to find their way out before dark, they endure a series of terrifying and unexplainable sounds and experiences that leave them shaken to the core.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

     Lionsgate

According to King, The Autopsy of Jane Doe is “visceral horror to rival Alien and early Cronenberg” (via Fandor). Coroner Tommy Tilden (Brian Cox) and his son, Austin (Emile Hirsch), conduct what they believe to be a routine autopsy on a Jane Doe brought in by the local authorities. However, the further they go into the autopsy, the more strange it becomes. This tale of supernatural horror was directed by André Øvredal. King’s advice is to “watch it, but not alone.”

Deep Blue Sea

     Warner Bros. Releasing

Deep Blue Sea, released in 1999 and directed by Renny Harlin, is a science fiction horror movie about groundbreaking research gone wrong. Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows) believes she has found a possible cure for Alzheimer’s disease by harvesting the brain tissue of genetically-altered sharks. When those looking to invest in the research, including executive Russell Franklin (Samuel L. Jackson), come to visit the facility, a simple procedure goes wrong. As a result, the mutant sharks are let loose and start killing the researchers. King is reported to have said that the movie made him “scream out loud,” and that he “treasures any horror movie that can make him do that” (via Best Life).

Crimson Peak

Guillermo del Toro directed and co-wrote the gothic horror Crimson Peak, starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, and Tom Hiddleston, which King called “gorgeous and just…terrifying.” Edith (Wasikowska) marries a charming stranger, Sir Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston), and is brought to stay at his family’s mansion. Already having an intimate connection with the dead, Edith begins to pick up on something disturbing emanating from the house. As things get progressively more frightening, Edith begins to wonder about her new husband and his sister, Lady Lucille Sharpe (Chastain), and whether they are behind some of the darkness that is present in the house.

The Changeling

The 1980 psychological horror The Changeling won a number of awards, including the Canadian Screen Award for Best Screenplay. John Russell (George C. Scott) leaves his home in New York City after his wife and daughter are killed in a car accident while on vacation. After settling into his new home near Seattle, he begins to experience the presence of the ghost of a boy who drowned in the bathtub. When asked about his favorite films by the British Film Institute, King described his love for The Changeling. “There are no monsters bursting from chests,” he wrote. “Just a child’s ball bouncing down a flight of stairs was enough to scare the daylights out of me.” This horror classic was directed by Peter Medak and written by William Gray and Diana Maddox.

Final Destination

     New Line Cinema

King expressed his love for the original Final Destination by saying, “I love all these movies…but only the first is genuinely scary…” After Alex Browning (Devin Sawa) has a premonition of the plane he’s in exploding, he urges everyone to leave, which results in seven passengers, including himself, to be kicked out before takeoff. When the plane explodes, the survivors believe they have cheated death. But the events that follow prove that might not be true, as each of the survivors begin to die. This first of the Final Destination franchise was directed by James Wong.

The Last House on the Left

     Rogue Pictures

The Last House on the Left remake was written by Wes Craven, directed by Dennis Iliadis, and was derived from Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring. The plot’s disturbing content makes it one of darkest movies on this list, touching on subject matter such a rape, torture, and murder. Nonetheless, King praised the film and called it “the best horror movie of the new century,” saying, “the Dennis Iliadis version is to the original what a mature artist’s painting is to the drawing of a child who shows some gleams of talent.” After realizing that the strangers taking shelter in their home have brutalized their daughter, John (Tony Goldwyn) and Emma (Monica Potter) exact revenge on the criminals.

The Witch

     A24

The Witch, written and directed by Robert Eggers, is set in 1960 New England. The film follows a family that decides to live alone near the woods after being exiled from there community. Suspicion of witchcraft soon falls upon the eldest daughter, Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), when the youngest sibling goes missing under her watch. The suspicion only mounts when, later, her brother Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), accuses her of being a witch. The family unit continues to devolve until the final, shocking scene. Of Eggers’ film, King said, “The Witch scared the hell out of me. And it’s a real movie, tense and thought-provoking as well as visceral.”